In motor vehicles having internal combustion engines, fuel is delivered with the aid of an electric fuel pump or a mechanical fuel pump out of a fuel tank and supplied via fuel lines to injectors. In internal combustion engines having high-pressure injection, particularly in self-ignition internal combustion engines, the electric fuel pump is coupled to another pump which produces a very high pressure in a high-pressure area of the fuel supply. The high-pressure area communicates with the injectors. Furthermore, a pressure-regulating valve is provided, which aids in regulating the pressure in the high-pressure area.
Given a process and a device for controlling an internal combustion engine, the underlying object of the present invention is to achieve a cost-effective and fast-acting regulation of the pressure prevailing in the high-pressure area.